Australia's Fig Parrots

Abstract

Sightings of fig parrots can be most frustrating, for only fleeting glimpses usually are obtained of small green parrots in swift flight overhead or clambering amongst the dense foliage of a rainforest tree. In flight they are noisy, but seldom call while feeding, and often the only indications of their presence are the movement of leaves or a steady stream of debris falling to the ground below. The characteristic contact call is a sharp, penetrating tseet ... tseet ... tseet, which is given in flight and just after alighting or prior to departure. Once recognized, the call is of great assistance in locating the birds, but it is decidedly un-parrotlike and in the field can be mistaken for the call of a small passerine. I suspect that Marshall's Fig "Parrot escaped detection on Cape York Peninsula for more that 20 years because its callnotes were overlooked.

Presumably, the three subspecies are similar in habits, but Marshall's Fig Parrot is the subspecies with which I am personally most familiar, for I have studied it extensively at Iron Range National Park, on Cape York Peninsula.

During the breeding season, pairs maintain territories that appear to be centered on feeding trees, and the birds feed consistently in these trees, even returning to resume eating seeds from the same fruits. There are three discernible feeding periods early to mid morning, at about midday, and mid to late afternoon.

Outside the breeding season, these parrots move about in small flocks, and a communal nightime roost is used. Soon after sunrise, small groups disperse from the roosting tree to spend the day in their feeding areas. I have noticed that in bright sunny weather they travel by means of short flights, pausing en route to preen and stretch their wings, but in overcast or wet conditions they fly straight to the feeding trees. While flying overhead, they will respond to imitations of their calls and I have caused them to circle back repeatedly to a tree near to where I was calling, and one male fluttered down to the lowest branches only a metre or so above my head. Towards dusk, they return to the roosting tree, where many birds may congregate before nightfall.

My most memorable encounter with fig parrots occurred in January 1966, at a large Castanospermum tree, which served as a nighti.rne roost for large numbers of Marshall's Fig Parrots and Red-sided Eclectus Parrots Eclectus roratus. In the late afternoon I took up a vantage position overlooking this tall tree towering above the rainforest canopy at the foot of a hill, and towards dusk the Eclectus Parrots...
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